LEARNING MORE IMPORTANT THAN KNOWING



If there is one thing that everyone agrees on than it is the fact that changes are the norm and they are becoming more and more unpredictable as well. This means that what worked in the (recent) past might not work in the future anymore. At least some of this (old) knowledge is becoming obsolete. In this situation it is key to learn fast and to act fast.

Let me give a simple example. In The Netherlands we are experiencing a much more severe winter than the last ten years. It is freezing for more than two months and for most of the time there is snow. Even if it is melting during the day, it freezes again at night, so the roads become very slippery. This puts a heavy workload on the people who grit the icy roads. But what happened? The stock of salt is finished, nowhere you can buy salt anymore. Apparently the stock was based on old knowledge, which is no longer valid. So they had to order huge quantities of salt from Egypt and as this was sent by boat, we hope that there will be no snow in the mean time.

So, to rely on knowledge only is not the right way to go. You have to learn fast and act fast. Those are much more important skills in these challenging times.

It is crucial to continuously follow this loop:

  1. Act
  2. Result
  3. Evaluate
  4. Learn
  5. Adjust
And then act again.

This means that learning is becoming more important than knowing. Are you stimulating your people to learn individually and collectively? Or are you still hanging on to old knowledge?



GROW YOUR PEOPLE, GROW YOUR BUSINESS!

www.theproperway.com

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